Engineering and Urban Design 
                                                        Services Relative to the Reconstruction 
                                                                                    of Dudley Square 
                                                                                                          
                                                                                                          
              PROJECT APPROACH AND WORK PLAN 
               
              Project Understanding  
               
              A Time of Revitalization 
              This is a pivotal time for Dudley Square. It is poised for 
              revitalization sparked by a flurry of new construction, from 
              the new Central Boston Elder Services housing to a new 
              District B-2 police station to the impending restoration of 
              the iconic Ferdinand Building. The main streets of Dudley 
              Square – Washington Street, Dudley Street, Warren Street 
              and Harrison Avenue – border on three anticipated 
              redevelopment projects: the former B-2 police station and 
              balance of the former Modern Electroplating site, the 
              Dudley Municipal Building (Ferdinand’s) and the former 
              MBTA Bartlett Yard. Clearly, the time is ripe to create 
              enhancing streetscapes that will complement the recent 
              redevelopment and foster ongoing redevelopment. 
               
              A Crossroads                                                Redevelopment of the Ferdinand 
              Dudley Square in Roxbury is a gateway between               Building will enliven the square with 
              downtown Boston, Roxbury, Dorchester and points south,      as many as 400 more workers.  
              and is one of the busiest transit hubs in the city. Sixteen 
              major bus routes converge at Dudley Station in the heart of 
              the square with over 30,000 daily boardings and alightings and more than 20,000 vehicles pass 
              through during peak commuting hours. Ongoing redevelopment will continue to bring more 
              workers, shoppers, and residents to Dudley Square.  
               
              The proposed streetscape improvements 
              will help support a more vital, bustling 
              mixed-use area that is attractive to 
              businesses and residents alike. In keeping 
              with the aim of a Complete Streets 
              approach to redeveloping the area, it also 
              represents an incredible opportunity to 
              improve the daily lives, safety, and health 
              of the multitude of people in and traveling 
              through Dudley Square each day. Wider 
              sidewalks and improved crosswalks would 
              strengthen the pedestrian connections 
              between Dudley Station and the major 
              developments around the square. While        Dudley Station is a transportation hub when 16 
              Roxbury is one of the highest transit-use    major bus lines converge. 
              communities in the MBTA system, the 
              project must also consider the needs of riders who are transferring at Dudley Square, and 
                 
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                                                                      Engineering and Urban Design 
                                                        Services Relative to the Reconstruction 
                                                                                    of Dudley Square 
                                                                                                          
                                                                                                          
              enhance bus operations in the square for all users. Air quality is a concern not only in the 
              square, but in the entire Roxbury community. A plan that is designed with pedestrians, 
              bicyclists, and transit in mind will encourage these “better ways to commute” to the new job 
              opportunities in the square. 
               
              Planning and Designing with the 
              Community 
              The only road to a successful project is one in 
              partnership with the community. Now, over 
              10 years since the initiation of the Roxbury 
              Strategic Action Plan, the community has 
              invested a tremendous amount of time and 
              thought in developing plans to shape and 
              anticipate development. Two studies 
              specifically are focused on transportation: the 
              Dudley Square Transportation and Air 
              Quality Study, and most recently, the Dudley 
              Square Transportation Action Plan. Some of 
              the recommendations of these plans have 
              already been implemented. The design and       Rush hour finds the streets around the square 
              reconstruction of Dudley, Washington,          filled with automobile traffic and buses.  
              Harrison and Warren Streets - the heart of 
              Dudley Square – provides the opportunity to complete the execution of recommendations that 
              complete the vision of the study area and garner community support. 
               
              Our public outreach plan will put strong emphasis during Tasks 1 through 3 on public and 
              stakeholder meetings that review these and other community visions, goals and 
              recommendations, so that any plan we develop has strong roots in—and is respectful of—a 
              process that has been ongoing for over a decade. 
               
              The project is also the opportunity to integrate 
              city-wide guidelines and goals established in 
              the more recent Complete Streets program and 
              Climate Action Plan. Our approach will be to 
              integrate the discussion of these guidelines 
              and goals with the discussion of the 
              community’s vision and goals, particularly 
              during Tasks 1 and 2. 
               
              Overview of Approach 
               
              Our Principal Focus: A Design That is “of 
              the Community”                                 Sharrows on Warren Street represent the initial 
                                                             elements of planned bicycle improvements in and 
              As we reviewed the scope in the RFP, two       around Dudley Square. 
                 
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                                                         Engineering and Urban Design 
                                              Services Relative to the Reconstruction 
                                                                     of Dudley Square 
                                                                                      
                                                                                      
            tasks emerged as keys areas of focus: 
                 Task 9, particularly the public and stakeholder meetings 
                 Task 2, particularly the development of the Final Concept Plan 
             
            While all the tasks are clearly vital for the successful completion of the project by our team, 
            these tasks are where the design and engineering process must sync with the community. A 
            successful Dudley Square streetscape improvement project must be “of the community.”   
             
            We maintain this belief based on our knowledge of the community. In anticipation of this RFP, 
            our project manager, Rachel Burckardt, set up a meeting with her friend, a representative of 
            Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI). What we heard at the meeting was the 
            extensiveness of the community’s own planning process, the success of projects that had 
            community support and “ownership,” and the failure of projects that lacked that key 
            ingredient.   
             
            One example of success mentioned was Dudley Town Common. For this project, Copley Wolff 
            Design Group (CWDG), our urban design consultant, developed the design during the public 
            process, and the elements in the park speak specifically about the historical, cultural or social 
            aspects of the community. 
             
                  Dudley Town Common has become a center of the Dudley Street neighborhood. The Food 
                  Project, a Roxbury-based non-profit, sponsors a weekly farmers market. 
             
            Similarly, the ongoing outreach program for the Roxbury-Dorchester-Mattapan Transit Needs 
            Study is obtaining community and local political buy-in, although that study was initiated in 
            the wake of the failure of the preceding Route 28X project to garner community and local 
            political support. The community made it clear that the transit planning process should start 
            with an evaluation of existing service, identification of need, and then development of 
            alternatives, all before one or more potential improvement actions are proposed. 
             
            With a year-long process, 7 public meetings and at least 12 stakeholder meetings, we believe 
            this will provide enough time to engage the community at all the critical stages of the project. 
             
               
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                                                                          Engineering and Urban Design 
                                                            Services Relative to the Reconstruction 
                                                                                          of Dudley Square 
                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                 
               In the following section, we present an overview of these two key tasks.  This is followed by a 
               more detailed description of our approach to all nine tasks. 
                
               Outline of the Public Process 
               The public process must start on Day 1 and play a central role throughout the project. With our 
               public outreach consultant, Kelley Chunn, providing her expertise, we will develop a list of key 
               stakeholders. We will meet with BTD and other City agencies to understand the ongoing 
               outreach programs, such as those related to the renovation of the Ferdinand Building or the 
               redevelopment of the old police station, so that the efforts can be coordinated (e.g., avoiding 
               competing meetings on the same evening). 
                
               We will then develop a preliminary list of meetings and a schedule keyed into the design 
               process, as detailed under Task 9. 
                
               Approach to Concept Design 
               The concept design will be developed starting from the planning and vision to date. We would 
               use these studies and public input from the meetings during Task 1 and other opinion gathering 
               techniques (as described under Task 9) to identify deficiencies in the existing streetscape: 
                     Pedestrian connectivity deficiencies (e.g., need for additional crosswalks to match desire 
                       lines) 
                     Bicycle accommodation deficiencies (e.g., missing links between key bike corridors, on-
                       street impediments, areas difficult to access by bike) 
                     Sidewalk deficiencies (e.g., width, surface material,  accessibility issues) 
                     Deficiencies in transit operations (e.g., circuitous routing through the square, location of 
                       bus stops outside of Dudley Station) 
                     Traffic operations deficiencies (e.g., lane configuration, turn lane designations, signal 
                       phasing and timing) 
                     Dark areas and those with non-pedestrian scaled street lighting 
                
               Having mapped the deficiencies, we would look 
               for alternative designs that would address these 
               issues. In developing alternative concepts, there 
               are many considerations, including:  
                     Addressing all modes of transportation:  
                       pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, and motor 
                       vehicles (including delivery trucks and 
                       emergency vehicles). It should emphasize 
                       the non-motorized modes, to contribute 
                       to the extent feasible to the City’s trip 
                       reduction goal.  
                     The design must be fully accessible.  
                     It must also be green and smart, taking       Dudley Square is a mix of the old and the new, 
                       advantage of state-of-the-art technology.    with many historic buildings contributing 
                                                                    varied facades to the streetscape. 
                  
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